Jackson's budget hole is bigger than anyone said. The city is on track to bring in $99 million in revenue this fiscal year, $36 million less than the $135 million it budgeted. The City Council voted down an amendment to fix the books anyway.

The vote Tuesday was 3-4. Council President Vernon Hartley, Vice President Kevin Parkinson, and Ward 6 Councilwoman LaShia Brown-Thomas voted yes. Ashby Foote, Tina Clay, Kenneth Stokes, and Brian Grizzell voted no.

Chief Financial Officer Jillian Caldwell told the council the city had collected just $93.2 million so far, with only about $6 million more expected before the budget year ends September 30. The numbers came from documents provided to the council that night, according to WLBT.

Mayor John Horhn had warned the council in a July 9 memo that the budget must be amended to comply with state law. Mississippi statute requires municipalities to adopt a balanced budget by September 15 each year. The fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30.

Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote argued the amendment was unnecessary. He said the city had already closed the gap by cutting payroll, operating transfers, capital outlay, and other costs. Based on actual spending so far, he said, the city was close to its revised targets.

“We need to take this whole issue very, very seriously, and look at where our shortfalls are. But in some of the main categories, we’re very, very close to what we budgeted, according to actuals,” Foote said, according to WLBT.

Parkinson disagreed. He pointed to the $93.2 million figure and said the math did not work. “So, unless we’re going to get that much more money over the next two months, I think we will not have all the revenues that we initially forecasted we would when we passed the budget,” he said.

The city confirmed a $23 million shortfall in December and cut its budget to $112 million at the time. The new $36 million gap means the shortfall has grown by more than half since then.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Tina Clay, the former Finance Committee chair, said Chief Administrative Officer Pieter Teeuwissen had done an “excellent job of keeping the expenses down.” She said the actual spending numbers did not justify a formal amendment.

Parkinson countered that without an amended budget on paper, nothing stops the administration from spending the full $135 million originally allocated. Foote said the council could block spending by rejecting the claims docket. Parkinson replied that claims are for items already purchased.

The council recessed the meeting until Friday, July 31. The budget amendment could come up for another vote then. If it fails again, the city will enter the final two months of its fiscal year with a budget that state law says cannot exist.

The $36 million figure represents more than a quarter of the city's original spending plan. For context, Jackson's entire general fund budget for the current year was set at $135 million. The gap is larger than the annual budgets of some Mississippi towns.